Boule with herbs

Today I'm making boules.  What is a boule?  It is basically a round loaf of bread, often very crusty, and always very delicious.  They aren't hard to make, and so they are great to add on short notice to a day's meal plan.

For this boule, we're going to start with all-purpose flour, add a little instant yeast, some sugar, some salt, a little baking powder, and whisk it all together.  Then warm water is added, about 120 F.  Once all the dry ingredients are combined in the water, fresh chopped herbs are added.  In this case, I'm using parsley, thyme, and basil, and I'm adding a lot.  I want this loaf to be very fragrant.  All of this is kneaded for about 6 minutes in the mixer with a dough hook on medium high speed, or longer if doing it by hand.  You can see the finished dough above.  

Now the dough rises for about 45 minutes in the bowl.  And then it's removed, deflated a bit, and formed into a round ball and then pressed until it's about 7 inches in diameter.  Place it into a round cake pan which has been lubricated with butter, brush the dough with melted butter, and let it sit another 25 minutes or so.  When it's done rising, it should pretty much fill the pan and it will have risen a little above the top of the pan.

Then it's brushed with melted better again, and put into the oven at 375 F for about 20 minutes.  And here's how it comes out.

Beautiful, isn't it?  Let's cut it open and see what it looks like inside.

It looks delicious.  And as you can see, when you cut it open all those herbs are found sprinkled throughout the bread.  It is soft, fragrant, and flavorful.  I like to eat it plain but you can put anything on it you wish.  It's great to have with soups and stews to soak up the juices and broths and gravies.  It's great with a little melted grated cheese on it.  There are so many ways to eat this.  And it is really quite easy.  This particular loaf has a very soft crust, but many boules are very crusty.

Eating a slice now and ...... it's yummy!  Put this out as part of a family dinner, and it will quickly be gone.  This will soon be on the full menu at Bruce Bakery Bistro.  I hope everyone will like it.